Suspect Charged in Family Research Council Shooting

Floyd Corkins, charged with a federal firearms violation and assault with the intent to kill, will make make his first appearance in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia early Thursday afternoon.

BY Julie Bolcer

August 16 2012 11:37 AM ET

Floyd Lee Corkins, II, the 28-year-old LGBT center volunteer who allegedly shot and wounded a security guard at the Family Research Council in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday, has been charged with federal and District of Columbia offenses and will make his initial court appearance Thursday afternoon, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, which is prosecuting the case.

“The defendant was charged with the federal offense of interstate transportation of a firearm and ammunition, along with the District of Columbia offense of assault with intent to kill while armed. The offenses carry the following maximum penalties: 10 years imprisonment on the federal offense and 30 years imprisonment on the District of Columbia offense,” said the announcement about the criminal complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. “The District of Columbia offense also carries a mandatory-minimum term offive years imprisonment.”

Corkins is scheduled to make his initial court appearance before Magistrate Judge Alan Kay in the District Court for the District of Columbia some time after 1:30 p.m., according to the announcement.

A spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s Office had no immediate comment on the further possibility of hate-crimes charges. The investigation into the crime is ongoing, according to a spokesperson for the FBI, which means that additional charges are still possible.

Corkins, of Herndon, Va. is accused of walking into the FRC headquarters at 801 G Street NW and shooting security guard Leo Johnson in the arm after an altercation. Reports indicate that Corkins made comments against the conservative Christian group, which advocates antigay positions, at the scene. The security guard was treated at a local hospital, and the suspect was held overnight on an assault with a deadly weapon charge.

Corkins had recently been volunteering at the DC Center for the LGBT Community, where executive director David Mariner described him as “gentle” and “kind.”

"I was shocked to hear that someone who has volunteered with the DC Center could be the cause of such a tragic act of violence," he said in a statement. "No matter the circumstances, we condemn such violence in the strongest terms possible. We hope for a full and speedy recovery for the victim and our thoughts are with him and his family."